a nice change of pace

Decent sleep but not enough as I had to get up early to fight the traffic get my Z-Health consult. Weight: 178 lbs. Unfortunatly a horrific accident had me stuck in traffic for 4 hours before abandoning and heading back home. I left a cell phone message for my Z-Trainer, Luis, explaining the situation .. he later got back to me, was very understanding and we rescheduled.

Sumo DL 10 Day Linear PTTP Cycle: (lbs)
Cycle 2: Day 5: 190 x 1 x 5, 170 x 1 x 8

Sumo DL off 6" blocks:
170 x 6 x 1
170 x 1 x 2

The 1st two reps of the 190 were more difficult than the last three. The 170 felt very light so I added a few extra reps. I then did some off the block pulls with the 170. Again feels pretty easy.

I discovered a very effective therapy for pulled upper back muscle. I recently read an article about tennis elbow relief by using a tennis ball to massage the trigger points in the outer forearm by pressing the ball against a wall with the outer forearm and then rolling up and down from 3" under the elbow to about another 6" down towards the wrist. This was pretty effective and then I realized it should also work for my back .. it does!!

At work today I went outside with my co-workers 16kg and practiced some palm snatches .. very ugly scene .. much work to do on these!

16kg 2 x 3/3 palm snatches
16kg 1 x 1l/2r BUP

First inspired by Colin of the UK's experience with the 24kg one arm LCCJ and then by Rifs recent PR of 55 sets of the 16kg 15:15 VO2 Max 7 rep/set protocol, I went outside with the dogs this evening and had a great gasser:

24kg 1 x 32 LCCJ in 4:40 sec, switching arms every 5 reps
5 minutes rest
24kg 1 x 43 LCCJ in 5:20 sec, switching arms every 5 reps

I never put the bell down and did these Hard-style with a loud stomp on every 2nd dip. Again I have Howie to thank for lending me his Brett Jones "KB Basics for Trainers" DVD set. The snatch and jerk sections are simply superb. I started out the first minute of the second set too fast at 10 reps. I then slowed down to around 8 reps and gutted it out until I couldn't get the 44th jerk off my shoulder. In a previous cycle I was doing double 24kg LCCJ but was totally gassed after 5 reps. The one-arms really let you build up a nice work capacity.

Snatch Vo2 Max 15:15, 16 kg, 7 reps/set
27 sets
Total: 189 reps in 13:30

The last 10 sets were really taxing. I noticed that at this weight, my normally weaker left side actually is stronger snatching. This is because my right leg is considerably stronger than my left and I use it to push off from the heal during my left side snatch. With the 24kg, this isn't as big a factor as weaker my left shoulder fatigues first. In lieu of doing the ROP for 24kg MP, I prefer the explosive LCCJ sessions as it is easier on the elbows and will strengthen my shoulders. Also, around the 10th set, I changed my left side grip and was able to prevent any hand tearing .. I did not use any tape, glove or chalk .. I just forgot to.

For the second day in a row, I used the "Smitty" elbow rehab exercise to work the extensors of both arms heavily with 3 to 5 lb weighted canisters. These definitely hurt but I'm sticking it out at least through the weekend. I did tons of Z elbow circles to get relief and used ice a few times as well. I also did some Pony clamp holds and they hurt like hell as well. Interesting, is that previously, I had been a lot sorer and had a much less ROM. Tonight I was even able to do a few reps with my 4kg KB so something is getting stronger.


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Diet and Nutrition Log

Breakfast:
1 bowl of Kitchari with sweet potato and green gram curry
2 cups of coffee with tbs of 1/2 and 1/2
2 dates
1 banana

Morning Snack:
4 dates
4 oz Kefir

Lunch:
1 large bowl of pan-fried salmon, Sichuan shrimp with veggies, brown rice and sweet potato
1 tangerine

Afternoon snack:
8 dates
1 orange


Dinner:
1 small bowl of pan-fried salmon
1 small bowl of chicken and rice
1 large scoop of Kimbels ice cream
2 small handfuls of almonds